Chapter 258: Explanation

Lu Hui's corpse was first transported to the Dao Ting Si of Tongxiancheng, and an officer reported it to Zhou Zhangsi.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhangsi frowned; when he saw Lu Hui's corpse, his frown deepened, and he couldn't help but snap:

"That brat Zhang Lan has caused me more trouble again."

This Lu Diansi arrived in Tongxiancheng whole and intact, yet after entering a mountain with Zhang Lan, he was instantly reduced to a corpse.

And he was missing limbs—his body was not even whole.

How was he supposed to explain this to Qingxuan City?

Could this possibly have nothing to do with Zhang Lan? Who would believe that?

Zhou Zhangsi asked the officer: "What was the sequence of events?"

The officer bowed and replied: "According to Zhang Diansi's account, Lu Diansi pursued the Bald Monk, was ambushed by him, and suffered severe injuries. While escorting the Bald Monk, he encountered a beast and died in its jaws, sacrificing his life in the line of duty."

"Sacrificing his life in the line of duty?" Zhou Zhangsi sneered. "He's cleaned it up too neatly—this man died dishonorably, yet now he has a respectable excuse."

"But does he think everyone else is an idiot? The corpse is right here—anyone with half a mind could see how Lu Hui really died."

Zhou Zhangsi silently thought, shook his head, and examined Lu Hui's corpse again; his spiritual sense swept lightly over it, and suddenly his eyes brightened.

This method… is quite clean.

There were only two types of fatal wounds on Lu Hui's body.

One was inflicted by a cultivator—faint white wind-element spiritual energy lingered at the wound sites.

The one who wounded him was clearly the Bald Monk.

Wind-elemental spiritual roots are rare; even our Dao Ting Si has no cultivator with a wind-elemental root.

Among all the cultivators on this mission, none possessed a wind-elemental root—this spiritual energy cannot be faked.

The other was wounds from beast claws and teeth.

The wounds still bore the beast's foul, stinking saliva and crimson beast energy—undoubtedly caused by a beast's tearing attack.

This too could not be faked.

Zhou Zhangsi relaxed, and suddenly found Zhang Lan to be Ruzike.

Some things he could do—but he must leave no traces and not bring trouble to the Dao Ting Si.

In such a case, he could pretend not to notice, as if nothing had happened, and still give a plausible explanation to the outside world.

Since there was now an explanation and no trouble, Zhou Zhangsi was relieved.

He glanced again at Lu Hui's corpse and thought silently: "Good riddance!"

What kind of filth was there in Qingxuan City's Dao Ting Si, from top to bottom?

Zhou Zhangsi said nothing aloud, but inwardly held great contempt.

Though he himself was no paragon of virtue, he still had conscience—he took kickbacks at most, never sucked people dry and left not even a bone.

But he was merely the Zhangsi of Tongxiancheng, able to govern only this one patch of land; he had no authority to interfere in Qingxuan City's affairs.

Zhou Zhangsi sighed, then felt a flicker of puzzlement.

How exactly had Zhang Lan tricked Lu Hui to his death?

Judging from Lu Hui's wounds, he was indeed wounded by the Bald Monk, then killed by a beast.

But this couldn't be that simple.

Lu Hui was cunning and crafty—he wouldn't be this foolish…

Lu Hui was at Qi Refinement Ninth Layer, and so was Zhang Lan; even if Zhang Lan was slightly stronger, he couldn't kill Lu Hui without leaving any trace.

Someone must have helped him.

Zhou Zhangsi silently calculated.

Mo Shan and Ji Qingbai, who entered the mountain with Zhang Lan, were likely to have intervened.

Who else could it be?

In his mind, Mo Hua's sly gaze flashed briefly.

Zhou Zhangsi's hand paused as he stroked his beard, startled: "Could that boy Mo Hua have also acted…?"

The more he thought, the more plausible it seemed.

After getting to know Mo Hua, he realized the boy, though young, could not be judged by ordinary standards.

His mind was meticulous, he acted only after careful planning, his methods were clean, and he left no traces.

Zhou Zhangsi nodded, glanced again at Lu Hui, and praised:

"Well done!"

At this moment, Mo Hua and Zhang Lan and the others were still in the valley where the cultivator criminals had hidden.

This valley had been used by the Bald Monk and his gang as a hideout, residence, and storage for stolen goods.

The valley contained numerous caves—over a dozen, large and small.

Inside the caves were beds, pills, spiritual artifacts, food, and other tools used by cultivators for daily life and cultivation—clearly, this gang had hidden here for a long time.

All the criminals in the valley who deserved death had been killed, and those to be captured had been taken—none escaped.

The remaining task was to seize and inventory the stolen goods.

These criminals had murdered and plundered for years, and most of their loot was hidden in this valley.

Some less valuable items, which the criminals didn't care much about, were scattered everywhere.

Dao Ting Si cultivators searched each cave one by one, collected the stolen items, recorded them, and piled them in the center of the valley.

The valley already held a large heap of goods.

Spiritual artifacts, pills, scrolls, miscellaneous items—all were there.

But these clearly weren't enough.

The Bald Monk had robbed for so long on Great Heishan—there must be more. Where could it be?

Zhang Lan frowned and continued searching the valley, extending his spiritual sense while checking for hidden chambers or mechanisms.

Then he saw Mo Hua standing before a stone wall, deeply absorbed in thought.

Zhang Lan walked over and tapped the stone wall with his hand; the sound was ordinary.

Zhang Lan asked, "Empty?"

Mo Hua nodded.

Zhang Lan swept his spiritual sense over it several times and found nothing unusual—it looked like an ordinary stone wall. He asked:

"How did you know?"

"I scanned it with my spiritual sense and knew right away," Mo Hua said casually.

"Alright." Zhang Lan sighed.

Though he didn't want to admit it, he had to.

This child's spiritual sense was already stronger than his.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one with weaker spiritual sense than Mo Hua; among Qi Condensation ninth-layer cultivators, hardly any could match Mo Hua's.

"Can we break it open?"

Mo Hua shook his head. "There's a formation inside. Forcing it would be difficult, and we don't know if there are traps."

"Do you have a way?" Zhang Lan asked.

Mo Hua nodded. "I'll see if I can unravel the formation."

Zhang Lan's eyelid twitched. "Unravel a formation?"

"Yes, Uncle Zhang, you know about that too?" Mo Hua glanced at Zhang Lan curiously.

"Of course I do."

Zhang Lan feigned calmness, though his heart trembled.

How in the world did you learn to unravel formations?

He'd only heard the term "unravel formation" mentioned in passing by the formation instructor at the Zhang family's clan school—briefly, vaguely, with no detail.

Even the instructor didn't understand the method; he only said this wasn't something an ordinary formation master could learn—or even should try.

Repairing formations was one thing, but now unraveling them too?

Is this really something a Rank-One Formation Master should be learning?

Zhang Lan cleared his throat and asked cautiously, "Unraveling a formation… isn't that difficult? If you can't do it, forget it—I'll just have someone smash it open."

Mo Hua scratched his head.

He'd been observing the stone wall, studying what kind of formation it used and which formation patterns might unravel it.

After studying for a long while, he'd begun to see some patterns.

Mo Hua said, "Don't worry, I'll unravel it. This formation isn't hard—probably below Rank-One. Should be easy to undo."

Mo Hua used a modest phrasing.

A formation below Rank-One was indeed easy to unravel, but one couldn't boast too much—lest failure occur and bring shame if the formation couldn't be undone.

"Below Rank-One… easy to undo…"

Zhang Lan sighed.

Fine. People like this made others want to die.

Zhang Lan patted Mo Hua's shoulder. "Then it's up to you."